Course summary

This BA Hons level programme provides students with advanced level skills and knowledge in Acting for all media including Theatre, Television, Film and radio.

It is a predominantly vocational course with high contact hours concentrating on core skills in Acting, Voice, Movement and Singing in the first year, followed by three community tours to school and theatre audiences in the second year.

The final year consists of three full productions in theatres and other venues within Bristol.

Students also produce high quality short films and broadcast radio standard pieces for showreel and promotional purposes. A London Showcase in front of industry professionals is an annual event.

Core classes in technical skills are maintained throughout the second and final years alongside industry specific training in professional development and audition skills.

The ethic of the ensemble runs throughout the three years.

The opportunity to work with professionally recognised directors such as Sally Cookson, Tom Morris and Bill Alexander is hugely beneficial to the future employment prospects of the students and in recent times students have progressed to work at the major theatre playing houses including The National, the RSC and the Royal Court as well as feature in major roles within Film and Television productions both in the United Kingdom and America.

Please note: this course is only open to those who are ordinarily resident in the EU/UK. This course is NOT open for international applications.

Please note: All applicants must be aged 18 or over at the start of the course.

Please note: Regional Locations; Leeds, Glasgow, Newcastle and Belfast fill up fast, please apply early. Once full all applicants will have to come to Bristol for their audition.

Applications - further details

We will only accept one application per applicant, per year.

We will not accept applications if you have previously applied in four or more consecutive years.

Course details

Principal study options

During the application and audition process, you must select which instrument(s) you wish to specialise in for the duration of your course. On this course, you can choose from the following options:

Single specialism

Only one instrument is studied. It may be possible to study a further instrument formatively, but this will not contribute towards the qualification.

Instrument/specialisms

For all courses, you must select at least one specialism from the 'primary' list. For those studying primary/secondary pathways, two instruments may be selected – one from the 'primary' list and one from the 'secondary' list. Joint pathway students may select any two instruments from either list.

Assessment method

Students are assessed through ongoing monitoring, analysis and feedback on their classes, workshops, rehearsal processes and performance skills and through the assimilation of the guidance and informed judgements of an extensive range of internal and external professional practitioners and potential employers.

Assessment also focuses on the development of self-reliance, intellectual and emotional engagement and initiative in creating growth.

Written career strategy work is assessed on the basis of thoroughness of research, demonstration of assimilation and understanding and clarity, accuracy and practicality.

How to apply

Application deadlines

If your application is completed by the following date, it’s guaranteed to be considered:

15 January

*If you apply after this deadline, universities or colleges don’t have to consider your application if they’ve filled their spaces, so the sooner you apply, the better!

*If you are an international applicant, or you are applying for a postgraduate course, or are choosing certain audition locations, the 'on time' deadline may be later in the year - please contact the conservatoire directly.

Application codes

You will need these codes when you add a choice to your application.

Course code

BOV1

Institution code

B65

Campus name

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

Campus code

-

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

Year 1

Entry requirements

Qualification requirements

Qualification

Offer

Further information

For an Honours degree course you normally need two A-levels or the equivalent, such as a BTECDiploma or Extended Diploma; IB (International Baccalaureate); or Access to Higher Education Diploma. For foundation courses, you normally need one A-level, or equivalent.Students who achieve the UCAS Tariff points required (and have passed an English Language qualification) almost always have gained qualifications which meet our minimum entry requirements

Additional entry requirements

Audition

Entry onto this course is subject to a successful audition.

Audition locations

In the event of a successful audition, applicants may be invited for a further interview prior to being made an offer.

Remote audition recordings may be accepted in the event that you cannot attend an audition in person.

Single specialism audition

Location

On-time Fee

Late Fee

Belfast

£50

£50

Bristol

£50

£50

Glasgow

£50

£50

Leeds

£50

£50

Newcastle Upon Tyne

£50

£50

Joint principal specialism audition

Location

On-time Fee

Late Fee

Belfast

No fee charged

Bristol

No fee charged

Glasgow

No fee charged

Leeds

No fee charged

Newcastle Upon Tyne

No fee charged

Additional information

Audition Process
We currently operate a two stage process for admission. The first is a 15 minute preliminary audition, if you are successful you will be required to come back for a recall workshop. Preliminary auditions are normally held between November and April. Recalls are normally held between January and June. Details are below;
Each preliminary audition lasts for roughly fifteen minutes
You need to do two contrasting monologues, each must be under two minutes long.
One speech should be from a play written before 1800. Shakespeare is always good.
One speech should be from a play written after 1956.
Your speech can been translated from another language and may be for either male or female actors.
You will also need to prepare a short, unaccompanied song – we suggest avoiding contemporary pop songs.
On top of this you will be given;
A short piece of Sight Reading which we’ll provide when you arrive. You may wish to arrive earlier to prepare for this.
• Each piece should last no longer than 2 minutes; if you exceed this time limit you will be stopped. Speeches should be from published plays and should not be extracts from poems, novels, films or television scripts.
Some advice:
Contrast is important for us to understand your acting. This could be comedy/drama or very contrasting characters.
Speeches should involve a character close to your own age and at least one speech should be performed in your own accent.
It will help you if you’ve read the whole play and understand the context of the speech.
Think about who your character is speaking to and where they are.
Think about what your character is trying to achieve, and see if there’s a change of direction in the speech.
If you are successful you will be asked to come back for a recall workshop, which is an all day workshop from 9am - 6pm.
The workshops are held on a different date than your preliminary audition, therefore you will have to prepare to come back to the school at a later date for the workshop.
Please note that we are unable to offer feedback on audition or interview.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

Channel Islands

£9,250

Year 1

EU

£9,250

Year 1

England

£9,250

Year 1

Northern Ireland

£9,250

Year 1

Scotland

£9,250

Year 1

Wales

£9,250

Year 1

Additional fee information

Please note: this course is only open to those who are ordinarily resident in the EU/UK. This course is NOT open for international applications.

Unistats information

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